Ads are for obituaries, In memoriam, one-year in office etc
Did you notice what happened btw Senate and Deziani. We have been living with Kerosene shortage for a ling time. When she came for screening, nobody asked her any question on that. It was more like Nollywood act. Barely a week after, having been safely sworn in, the Senate summoned her to come and explain the issue of kerosene scarcity. I could not help wondering, was the brought to their attention only after the screening?

Please read this

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/analysis/columnists/24879-our-advertisements-our-values

Our advertisements, our values


Ken Ugbechie

Not many connoisseurs of British literature remember George Norman Douglas. He's not as popular as Charles Dickens or George Orwell (real name Eric Blair) of the Animal Farm fame. But Douglas who died in 1952 did engage the global literati with his many sound bites borne out of his often dispassionate assessment of societal values and behaviour. He could be poignant. He could be benign. Sometimes, he navigates the contours of societal behaviour and makes submissions that are too true to be untrue.

He once wrote: "You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements". While media adverts may not tell the exact situation, they in a way tell the values of a people. It is therefore possible to tell the ideals of a country by the content of its newspapers especially the type of advertisements published in the newspapers. It is just the same way you can tell the target audience of a newspaper by its news genre and style of news presentation, headlines, length of stories including features and other segments of the newspaper.

If you go to India , you will not miss the Times of India , the Deccan Chronicle or the The Hindu. These are the frontrunners in India 's vibrant newspaper industry. By the way, India has the highest number of publications in the whole world with about 1,795 newspapers. Some of them circulate millions of copies daily while a good number of them are regional newspapers chalking up hundreds of thousands in print run. Yet, with such surfeit of newspapers, you will never catch an Indian newspaper dripping with vain advertisements, something as vain as congratulating a minister, governor, commissioner or even president on his or her election, selection or appointment into public office. I have read several copies of the Times of India and the Deccan Chronicle and all the adverts tell of development not a call for egotism or a voyage into narcissism. From start to finish, it is vacancy advert, product advert and sundry corporate promotions but certainly not the massaging of some personal ego.

Take a trip to the uttermost part of the earth: Japan . Out of a list of 100 top circulating newspapers in the world, the first five are from Japan with the Yomiuri Shimbun leading the log with a circulation of over 14 million copies daily. With such pervasive circulation you would expect advertisers to take good advantage of its reach. Yes, you are right except that you will not find inanities like 'In Memoriam', Congratulations on Your 50th Birthday or House Warming cum Marriage Anniversaries occupying vantage positions in the newspaper. Never. You can only find adverts which promote development, research and encourage hard work.

Take another trip to the Bild of Germany or to the Canako Xiaoxi of China , the story is the same: they advertise value not vanity. Go West. Flip through the Times of London , The Washington Post or even the raunchy British tabloid, The Sun, you won't find any Jack congratulating a Jill for making the ministerial list or for being considered as a cabinet member in the White House. You will find product adverts, vacancy adverts and other developmental promotions but never a display of vanity fair.

Let's step down this argument. Let's return to Africa . Destination: Ghana , home of the Graphic and Chronicle; Egypt , the birthplace of Al-Ahram and Middle East Times; South Africa , where the Cape Argus, Mail & Guardian and the Star ride the tide. In none of these would you find on a daily basis such mundane offering as operators in a particular sector falling over themselves on the pages of newspapers just to congratulate the new minister appointed to oversee their sector.

Now, let's return to Nigeria . Have you noticed the madness that seized the nation since INEC declared Goodluck Jonathan winner of the presidential election? Did you also notice how the madness assumed a schizophrenic hue after the governors were elected or re-elected as the case may be? Then compare that madness with what is happening now. All the ministers, without lifting a finger just yet, got lavish congratulatory messages from so-called well-wishers. The Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, got more than enough to match her portfolio. It was a case of all minister are equal but some are more equal than others. Since her confirmation (and you wonder why the initial fury and smear campaign to stop her), she has garnered more congratulatory messages than all the other ministers put together. The messages are still pouring in for her and others from contractors, friends and even from enemies masquerading as well-wishers.

Such is the nature of our value system. Whereas other countries promote industry and hard work through the adverts they place in newspapers, we promote incompetence and vainness. This is the difference between Nigeria and the rest of the world. And this explains why countries like Singapore , Malaysia , India and Japan are taken more serious than Nigeria . How can we justify the outpouring of congratulatory messages for a minister under whose tenure the nation suffered the worst kerosene scarcity or one who left Nigerian roads worse than he met them or for one whose major achievement is to compel Nigerians to pay more for less by increasing electricity tariff at a time electricity supply is as epileptic as lunar motion? We can do so because we have no shame. We have lewd values and rather than hide it, we flaunt it.

Any first time visitor to Nigeria will tell with certitude that we are a people steeped in the stupor of vanity simply by reading our newspapers. It is a retrogressive culture that we evolved all by ourselves. Unfortunately, it has become our character and it is not about to go away. But it gives away a clue: public service is the most lucrative enterprise in our country. And any nation with such warped work ethic is doomed. Pity!

very well observed!

I've seen an advert where Allison was congratulated for her 'staunched' defence at a senate hearing

The Amazon of Bayelsa we congratulate you

by
Adisa Eleru
Youth leader of nairaland Warzone, kafanchan branch
tel: 08080822833
email: #
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Definitely good article !!!